Antigone- The Final Appeal
by Sail Across the Sun
Summary: Written for a Language Arts project where I had to write a scene from Antigone that wasn't shown in the play. I chose when Creon was collecting Antigone for her punishment, before she killed herself. Please read and review, any feedback would mean the world to me! :D It was such a great play and I really hope I did it justice, thank you and please read! (Old username: B.Belle)


Hello, I would just like to start out by thanking everybody so much for reading! As you read on the description this is a scene from Antigone (wonderful play) that I had to write for Language Arts. This is the scene after Creon confronts Antigone and Ismene and leads to Creon leading Antigone to her punishment which we know leads to her death.

I would like to introduce myself very quickly. This is not my first story on FanFiction, but my other two were deleted because of my plan to change accounts. But that didn't happen and I just decided to start fresh. I am Sail Across the Sun (it is from a line in a Train song) and was formerly (Sorry, for whatever reason my username wouldn't show up, it is in the description). After this I will hopefully be publishing a Percy Jackson story so if you like that series please follow me as I can use all the support I can get!

Thanks for reading and please enjoy the play!

~Sail Across the Sun

**Antigone Scene-The Final Appeal:**

**Enter Creon into Antigone's room. Antigone is waiting for him.**

**Creon: **In these final moments before judgment,

Antigone daughter of Oedipus the traitor king- my nephew and brother-in-law-

What claims have you?

Claims which can justify the atrocities you have committed upon your return to Thebes?

**Antigone: **I have naught to speak of as no regret lies within me.

My duty has been done to the gods and my brother

And now I have but one burden left upon my living flesh and soul.

And it is that my sister did not have the strength to follow me in the will of the gods.

Do you still not see the great evil you have ordered to be committed?

Do you not understand the sin which you have asked us all to share with your wicked heart?

I may be condemned in life

But in death I will be greatly rewarded by the Lord Hades himself.

The same cannot be said for you, uncle.

He who will be remembered as the one who rejected the way of the gods

He who refused to bury his own kin.

It is not my soul I fear for,

But yours.

**Creon:** What is this impudence I ask?

What is this willingness, nay, desire to die?

Is this what you wish?

It must be so

For even in the face of imminent death you continue to defy me.

You continue to show disrespect for me, he who is your king.

He who is fair, he who is just,

And he who saved the great city of Thebes even after your father exiled himself.

Do you care nothing for what I have done for you and your siblings-?

**Antigone: **What you have done for my sibling and me?

Do you suggest that I honor you for leaving my brother in the greatest dishonor possible?

Should I thank you for allowing Polyneices to rot like he has committed a great evil?

Should I thank you for giving me the threat of death

For honoring him as he deserved?

**Creon:** Silence!

Allow not another ungrateful word to pass your lips!

I had come in kindness to give you a final chance to preserve your life

But it is time you learned your place.

It is time you learned that a harsh mouth and a stubborn mind will earn you nothing.

You have spoken with unjustified and unwarranted scorn

And you will be treated with such!

**Exit Creon (storming out of the room)**

**Creon (from outside): **Do not let Antigone out of her room!

Do not let her out of your sight afore my return!

**Enter 2 Guards:**

**Guard #1: **You have brought him to a tremendous rage.

I fear there is no appeal that could save you now.

**Antigone: **I do not wish for one.

It is far better to die with honor than to live a coward,

An idea that you should be familiar with and I hope,

For the benefit of our city, will one day discover.

**Guard #2:** And what is meant by that, Lady?

**Antigone: **It was simply a statement of my fear and amazement

Concerning the idea that a _simple_ woman has more of a sense of nobility

Than the men who are charged with the protection of our city.

**Guard #2**: You're words cause great offence, Lady.

It surprises me not that Creon has lost his temper with you

If you speak to your king with such a sharp tongue.

**Guard #1: **Speak not to the Lady in that tone!

For today she is still a noble of Thebes and shall be treated as such.

I apologize for the harsh words of my comrade, Lady Antigone.

**Antigone: **It is of no matter.

Those who are not able to understand dignity often bristle at its very mention

While those of us who are better able to fathom the meaning of the word

Understand how to treat it.

He has done nothing but prove his true character to me.

Now leave me in my peace.

I wish to be alone.

**Guard #1: **My deepest apologies, Lady Antigone,

Our king Creon has demanded you not be let out of our sight.

**Antigone: **I wish for you to leave.

**Guard #2: **As we have told you-

**Enter Ismene (interrupting Guard #2).**

**Ismene:** Antigone!

I beseech you!

Do not let Creon go through with this!

Please, dear sister, who has traveled and remained with me since we were both young,

And to what I wish would be both of our dying days,

Do not allow Creon to kill you!

**Antigone: **Leave this room at once, _dear_ sister!

As if you even deserve that title!

No sister of mine would be a traitor to this family as you were!

You disgust me!

Leaving our brother to suffer the pain and dishonor only befitting to the evilest of all criminals

Because of your pitiful fear!

**Ismene: **Antigone, please.

**Antigone: **No!

I was the one who combated and even accepted the possibility of death.

I was the one who is strong enough to perform the acts that _my _brother so deserved.

**Ismene: **He is my brother too, Antigone.

**Antigone: **You do not deserve to call him family.

**Ismene: **Do you not think I hurt?

Do you not think the images of his lifeless body haunt me every moment I live!

Every time I close my eyes I see his face!

I see his body thrown into the dirt, removed from all prospects of ever achieving peace!

Do you not think I have wept for him as I weep for you now?

I beg you once again.

Please, Antigone!

You are my sister and I love you!

How can I lose all my family so quickly?

Everything I care about has left me!

If this is the fate that you have so chosen, then I shall share it.

**Antigone: **I can see Polyneices death has indeed plagued you as it has plagued me.

_Our_ brothers' deaths can be described as nothing but a tragedy.

But, it is important that one of us live on.

**Ismene:** If you will not allow me to accompany you to Hades, then I can only ask for one thing.

**Antigone: **What is it?

**Ismene: **I ask, no, I beg, for your forgiveness.

**Antigone: **Then it is yours sister.

I also have one request.

**Ismene: **Anything you wish, Antigone, anything at all shall be yours.

You need only state your desire, sister.

For in these last moments when your body has but a breath

And you mind and wits are as sharp as ever

These are the moments that I know I shall forever treasure between us.

You need only ask and it shall be yours.

**Antigone: **Come closer, sister,

For I wish for none other than you to hear me in my moment of weakness.

I wish for you to stay with me, Ismene.

For I have fear of what is to come.

Please do not think less of me.

**Ismene: **I could never think less of you.

Even the strongest are prone to moments of weakness,

And you are certainly among the very strongest of the great race of men.

Even the gods on their thrones at Mount Olympus may experience fear.

To be above it would be to achieve a perfection that is unknown to all, even the gods.

I shall stay with you, until the final moments

Until your last breath leaves you, in hope that someday can be as brave,

In hope that someday I may join you.

**Antigone: **Thank you, sister.

Your words mean more to me than you can imagine.

For being alone is the worst pain imaginable now and I fear it above all else.

But speak to none of this weakness and let not a soul know of my fears.

At this moment I am Antigone the Strong, Antigone the Brave, Antigone the Noble,

And it is as such that I wish to be immortalized.

**Ismene:** Worry not, Antigone.

People in the years to come shall believe that you felt not an ounce of fear,

Not a drop of terror,

And experienced no moment of weakness before your final sentence was carried out.

You shall be remembered not as Antigone the Strong, Antigone the Brave,

Or even Antigone the Noble, but as Antigone the Fearless.

**Enter Creon. **

**Creon: **Guards, you are dismissed.

**Guard #1 and Guard #2: **Yes, my Lord.

**Creon: **Antigone, by your own choices you have condemned yourself.

Your future was sealed the moment you disregarded the law of the city.

From this moment on your engagement to my son is considered irrelevant.

Haemon shall find a new bride, one who obeys the laws of her king.

But upon the eve of this day you shall trouble and defy me no more.

For it is upon this eve that you are officially exiled from Thebes.

I decree that you shall spend the rest of your days in a cave.

A prison, if you will, where no damage can be done by your willful mind

That may lead to the sinning of my city.

**Ismene: **Will you not reconsider, my Lord Creon?

Antigone was only following the ideas she felt were right.

Is it her fault that she believed she would suffer greater punishment if she left our brothers body?

Should she be blamed for wanting to honor Polyneices in his death?

Despite what he has done to Thebes he will always be our brother

And the gods themselves say that family shall revere their dead.

**Creon: **Antigone has fallen through her own folly.

I will not allow her influence to spread like a disease through the rest of my people.

All that happens to her now is a result of her foolishness

And I suggest that you do not fall under its influence.

If you, Ismene, were able to resist the… _temptation_… of disobeying the law then

Your sister had to be capable of the same.

Now I tell you, unless you want to share the same sentence as your sister, watch your tongue.

**Antigone: **She shall not share in my sentence!

I may have forgiven her weakness, but I will not allow her to be killed next to me

When I was the one brave enough to defy you.

I, Antigone the Fearless, alone was able to cast aside fears of the consequential woes

I would be forced to face as a result of my actions.

I consider my sentence as being recognized for my bravery and I will treat it as such.

Therefore none shall share in the honor of my fate.

For honor it is indeed to die as a martyr for the cause of the gods.

And it is an honor that none among me today shall ever understand.

**Creon: ** How do you speak of honor when you have none?

How can you make claims of being better than the rest of us

When you are the one who is being punished?

There is no honor in being killed for defying the law, and no honor in a death as a criminal.

If you think you will be welcomed so graciously in the halls of Hades,

Then you once again display your foolishness.

**Antigone: **I will still take pride in knowing that I am far less a fool then you, Creon,

A king who feels he can rule without the favor of the gods!

When I am punished nothing but misfortune will find you, mark my words!

You will suffer for your belief of your own superiority to even the gods!

**Creon: **I grow tired of this speech.

Guards! Is everything prepared for Antigone?

**Enter Guard #1 and Guard #2.**

**Guard #1: **All is prepared for Lady Antigone, my lord.

**Guard #2: **The cave is ready, guards are being stationed before it as we speak.

It is time for She of the Sharp Tongue to leave, my lord.

**Creon: **Then justice shall finally be given to those deserving.

Take Antigone!

**Ismene: **Please, Lord Creon, let me come with you!

**Creon: **I order you to stay here!

Do not even think of defying me, girl!

**Ismene: **No, please, Creon!

Just let me come with you!

Please, Creon, please!

**Creon: **Guards, restrain her!

She is not to come with us under any circumstances!

Now take Antigone, I grow weary of this whole ordeal.

**Guard #2:** As you wish, my lord.

Lady Ismene, I suggest you stay where you are.

I respect you far more than your sister and it would be a shame to be forced to restrain you.

**Ismene: **No, please!

Do not take my sister away from me!

**Antigone: **No, Ismene.

Do not struggle.

Creon, will you not allow me to say goodbye to my sister?

**Creon: **If it will make her stay, I will allow it.

**Antigone:** Sister, do not struggle and do not fear for me.

Although this may be our last embrace do not fall into sorrow, just remember me.

Remember me as you will remember our brothers, brave and strong.

**Ismene: **But, Antigone, I am being forced to break my oath to you.

I cannot allow myself to fail to honor your final wish!

**Antigone: **Do not despair, Ismene, for I do not!

I feel not fear, but acceptance, even honor and joy,

For now I can truly be remembered as Antigone the Fearless!

Do not mourn, but rejoice my ascension into the realm of Hades, where I shall be honored!

But know this, dear sister, I love you and all your sins of the past are truly forgiven!

**Ismene: **My sister I will miss your dearly, but I shall assure your deeds are never forgotten!

**Creon: **You have tried my patience enough!

It is time to go and suffer for your crime!

Guard, bring the prisoner.

**Guard #1: **Despite the pain and deep sorrow it brings my heart,

Lady Antigone, I am afraid I must lead you away.

It is time for me to guide you to your prison.

**Antigone:** I shall walk on my own, to a destiny I openly accept.

My only hope is that my death will help people realize where their true loyalties should lie.

So it is not with a heavy heart that I depart, but with a light one full of optimism for the future.

And it is not with dark words that I bid this world goodbye,

But with hopeful ones that may one day resound across the very corners of the world!

To a time when they speak of Antigone the Fearless and her sacrifice with the awe and reverence

Befitting of the brave choice I made that, I know, will change my life forever.

**Exit Creon, Antigone, and Guard #1.**

**Ismene: **Woe is me who must mourn the deaths of my father, brothers, and sister!

Woe is me who was not brave enough to defy my king!

Woe is me who must suffer alone, a fate worse than death!

And woe is me who must live with the murder of my dearest sister,

Whom I have always admired.

For live I must because of my sisters wish.

Life, which is a punishment greater than any could imagine.

Because with each breath I draw, I am filled with deep regret and sorrow that shall last forever,

A hole in my heart that can never be filled.

For I am the survivor, and that is sure to prove to be a fate far worse than death.

**Thank you so much for reading! It means so much to me 3. Please, please review, they just make my day! I know I have A LOT to work on so any feedback would be very much appreciated! Also, I haven't turned this in yet so if anyone catches grammar mistakes please tell me!**

**And truly I am just so grateful to everybody who took the time to read this most likely horribly written play (believe me, I know that I need all the help I can get:)! And Percy Jackson fans don't forget to check out my story, although it may not be up for a while!**

**~Sail Across the Sun**


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